AMD A8-3870K Unlocked Llano Quad-Core APU Review

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LAME MT Audio Encoding and Cinebench R11.5

In our custom LAME MT MP3 encoding test, we convert a large WAV file to the MP3 format, which is a popular scenario that many end users work with on a day-to-day basis to provide portability and storage of their digital audio content. LAME is an open-source mid to high bit-rate and VBR (variable bit rate) MP3 audio encoder that is used widely around the world in a multitude of third party applications.

LAME MT

Audio Conversion and Encoding

In this test, we created our own 223MB WAV file (a hallucinogenic-induced Grateful Dead jam) and converted it to the MP3 format using the multi-thread capable LAME MT application in single and multi-thread modes. Processing times are recorded below, listed in seconds. Shorter times equate to better performance.

Audio encoding is most certainly not a strong point for the AMD A8-3870K. The A8-3870K is a hair faster than the 3850 at its stock speed, but trails the Intel processors significantly. While overclocked, the A8-3870K shows huge gains, but it's still not enough to catch even an Intel dual-core CPU.

Cinebench R11.5

3D Rendering

Cinebench R11.5 is an OpenGL 3D rendering performance test based on Cinema 4D from Maxon. Cinema 4D is a 3D rendering and animation tool suite used by 3D animation houses and producers like Sony Animation and many others. It's very demanding of system processor resources and is an excellent gauge of pure computational throughput. This is a multi-threaded, multi-processor aware benchmark that renders and animates 3D scenes and tracks the length of the entire process. The rate at which each test system was able to render the entire scene is represented in the graph below.

Cinebench shows the A8-3870K with a big GPU performance advantage over the Intel HD series GPU integrated into the Sandy Bridge-based processors. AMD's CPU cores, however, can't match Intel's clock for clock. While overclocked though, the A8-3870K at least manages to outpace the Core i3-2120.